‘Belonging to a global religion’: The sociological dimensions of international elements in Sahaja Yoga

The paper introduces a contemporary Hindu‐based sect, Sahaja Yoga, and outlines the extent to which the beliefs and rituals of the group foster its internal perception of itself as a global movement. The network of contacts maintained between British members and the international ‘collective’ of disciples which also go towards supporting this view are highlighted. The paper then describes the extent to which there is international cultural conformity within Sahaja Yoga. The final section draws on Rajneeshism for a comparative discussion of issues raised. It explores the factors behind the differing global configurations of religious groups, the advantages and disadvantages of having a global ethos and some of the ways in which New Religious Movements mirror aspects of the contemporary process of globalisation.     

Selectively prompting speech repairs in stages I to V: A technique for investigating early metalinguistic abilities

When children aged from 1;6 to 3;6 made errors in relation to targeted morphemes within grammatically obligatory contexts, a prompt of “Pardon?” was given. Morpheme repair rates increased with linguistic proficiency, and with target morpheme mastery. The selective use of prompted repairs appears to be a useful technique for assessing rudimentary abilities to monitor grammatical form within very young children.     

Temporal coordination of alternative and simultaneous aiming movements of constrained timing structure

Two experiments are reported addressing the preparation and initiation of movements with equal or unequal timing properties for both hands. Temporal coordination was examined in two movement tasks: one in which both hands performed the movements simultaneously (simultaneous aiming task) and one in which only one alternative of two possible movements was executed (choice aiming task). For each task a different group of subjects was used. Besides the timing relationships between both movements, the effects of preparation interval (1, 3, and 5 s), the average velocity (7, 14, 17.5, and 70 cm/s), the presence of advance information about the required velocity of the movement(s), and practice were investigated. Based on the common- and the specific-timing notions, distinct hypotheses were tested as to the effects of the variables on the temporal coordination as revealed by reaction time. A main result was that the effects of timing differences between the hands was task specific. For the choice task the data are in agreement with the common-timing notion of coordination, i. e., only one timing demand at a time can be prepared, whereas in the simultaneous task evidence was obtained for the specific-timing notion, i. e., independent preparation and initiation of different timing properties for the hands. However, it is argued that the results of the choice task probably do not reflect a general inability to prepare movements of different timing requirements for both hands, but is related to a task-specific strategy of selective preparation.     

“Subordination” and sensitivity to nonverbal cues: A study of married working women

Sex Roles - Women's superiority in decoding nonverbal cues of emotion has often been discussed as an adaptation to low status. To examine the relation of status to nonverbal sensitivity,...     

War,innocence, and the doctrine of double effect

I am grateful to members of the philosophy departments at the University of Melbourne and Sydney, to students in my Fall 1991 Ethical Theory class at the University of Maryland, especially John Watts, and to David Luban for useful discussions.     

An extension of the partial credit model with an application to the measurement of change

The partial credit model is considered under the assumption of a certain linear decomposition of the item × category parameters _ih into basic parameters _j. This model is referred to as the linear partial credit model. A conditional maximum likelihood algorithm for estimation of the j is presented, based on (a) recurrences for the combinatorial functions involved, and (b) using a quasi-Newton approach, the so-called Broyden-Fletcher-Goldfarb-Shanno (BFGS) method; (a) guarantees numerically stable results, (b) avoids the direct computation of the Hesse matrix, yet produces a sequence of certain positive definite matricesB _k ,k=1, 2, ..., converging to the asymptotic variance-covariance matrix of the . The practicality of these numerical methods is demonstrated both by means of simulations and of an empirical application to the measurement of treatment effects in patients with psychosomatic disorders.The authors thank one anonymous reviewer for his constructive comments. Moreover, they thankfully acknowledge financial support by the Österreichische Nationalbank (Austrian National Bank) under Grant No. 3720.     

Accreditation Standards for University and College Counseling Centers

The accreditation standards outlined in the article are used by the International Association of Counseling Services, Inc., as the basis for the formal accreditation of college and university counseling programs throughout the United States and Canada. They reflect the program elements and practice standards that are deemed essential in a counseling center that provides high-quality services to students.     

Is Speech Arrest during Wada Testing a Valid Method for Determining Hemispheric Representation of Language?

Background and objective: The intracarotid amobarbital procedure, or Wada test, is the method of choice to determine hemispheric representation of language, and is routinely used in the presurgical evaluation for intractable epilepsy. Some investigators perform comprehensive language assessments, but others base language lateralization solely on speech arrest. This study sought to determine whether speech arrest alone during Wada testing provides valid data regarding language lateralization. Methods: The subjects (previously reported) were 21 patients evaluated for intractable epilepsy, who underwent language lateralization by Wada testing and functional MRI (FMRI). For each patient, language representation was determined by calculating: (1) a Wada laterality index based exclusively on speech arrest; (2) a Wada laterality index based on comprehensive language assessment; and (3) an FMRI laterality quotient. Correlation coefficients and categorical classifications were analyzed. Results: There was no significant correlation between the Wada laterality quotient derived from duration of speech arrest and either the comprehensive Wada language laterality score (r= .35,p= .12) or FMRI language laterality score (r= .32,p= .16). Categorical classification as left, right or bilateral language also showed marked discordance between speech arrest and the other two methods. Conclusion: Duration of speech arrest during Wada testing is not a valid measure of language dominance.     

Premenstrual syndrome

This paper is an overview of research on premenstrual syndrome (PMS), focusing on the key topics of definition of the syndrome and the relationship of PMS to psychiatric illness. The etiology and treatment of PMS is discussed. Medical-legal implications of PMS are also reviewed with attention directed to the few studies and court cases relating PMS to the concept of diminished criminal responsibility. Researchers are beginning to make some progress with respect to criteria for the diagnosis of PMS. Much work remains concerning the questions of the relationship of PMS to psychiatric disorders and whether PMS should be considered as one syndrome or many.